Winters Rising

by Shannyn Leah

  “How about I write the details of my takeover in a book,” Brea said, sarcastically. “I will call it Declan’s Official Hand Guide, to give you fair warning before my invasion and conquest.”

  Gabrielle snorted at Brea’s mocking, but quickly cleared her throat when Declan’s irritated stare fell on her.

  “This isn’t funny,” Declan snarled at her.

  “I am serious,” Brea said. “You’re that single-minded.”

  “Alright, enough,” Jax intercepted. “We have to work together.”

  “For all we know, we could be working with the enemy,” Declan said.

  “For all we know, you are the enemy,” Brea said.

  “I can see this conversation is a waste of time we are running low on.” Declan moved away, just as Magnus walked back into the room.

  “I’m coming with you,” Brea said to Magnus, grabbing a dress. She slipped behind a screen and Jax turned away, knowing she was stripping naked and his brain hadn’t any room for those thoughts.

  When Brea walked from around the screen, Jax momentarily forgot everything, but her. She was stunning. The full skirt of the elegant emerald colored dress graced the floor, and the tight bodice noticeably boosted her bosom.

  Brea was about to loop her arm in Magnus’s, but his reaction stopped her.

  The elder practically jumped out of his skin as Brea’s hand came centimetres from touching him. “No, Dear. Elders don’t touch each other.” Magnus dusted the front of his jacket off, taking a step back. “Don’t you recall Melora having all her guards apprehending you? It’s dangerous...deadly, so keep your hands to yourself. Alright?”

  Brea retracted her hand and Jax watched flickers of...what? Recollection...memories? He wanted so badly to know what she was thinking.

  Lord he needed to talk to her. Alone.

  Brea nodded and said, “Lead the way.” She indicated a path with her hand...at a respectable distance.

  Jax had to grind his feet into the ground to prevent himself from crossing the room and grabbing Brea. What was she thinking? Their lives were in danger and they needed to outline a plan, not tour around on a ship, gambling.

  Jax’s stomach turned again, worse this time and he swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

  A boat? Honestly? Did she loathe him that much?

  Maybe a break to clear their heads was exactly what they needed. Perhaps it would give Brea time to clear her head and, hopefully, realize Jax wasn’t the bad guy.

  He let her go.

  “Oh yes.” Magnus looked over his shoulder, as the door opened. “We need to leave before the twenty-four-hour mark to avoid detection by the elders. We’ll meet back here in twenty-three.”

  The moment the door closed, Gabrielle and Declan began speaking.

  “We have to figure out our next step in this disaster,” Declan said, beginning to pace across the floor. His brother looked rough. Jax had never seen him this way and they’d traveled a number of hard time rips together. One time, Declan had landed in a prisoner’s cage, locked away to be hanged. Still, that rip didn’t compare to the stress these rips had instilled in all of them. Declan’s eyes were sunken with dark rings encircling them. The worry lines across his forehead seemed permanent, but Jax was still annoyed with his brother’s accusations of his wife.

  But he didn’t get the chance to bring up his concerns.

  “Maybe we should go back to the house a few hours before council arrived,” Gabrielle suggested. “Then we could talk to Mom and Dad.”

  Jax had considered that too. “And change the course of time,” he said.

  “We can tell them how it plays out so they don’t interfere.” Even as Gabrielle said it, Jax could hear the scepticism in her voice with his plan.

  “No,” Jax said.

  “It amazes me how quickly you disregard our suggestions but are so quick to accept everything Brea says,” Declan said. Jax thought it funny since they all knew Declan would be the last one of them to break the rules. His brother seemed angry and posed for a fight. Jax could relate. He felt the same way, but taking it out on each other would get them nowhere.

  “And Magnus,” Declan continued, when his other statement had received no reaction.

  “I don’t trust him,” Jax confirmed, giving Declan the fire to continue.

  “And yet, here we are.” Declan waved his hands in the air.

  “Alive,” Jax gritted.

  “It all seems convenient that we don’t meet Brea until your vows and, afterwards, she refuses to bond with you, causing an uproar in the society. Then we land in Lexcon, and Magnus won’t help us unless we take him to Brea.”

  A cold chill circulated through Jax’s veins. His soul screamed no, but his brain couldn’t deny the facts.

  “So you aren’t blinded by your−”

  “Soul,” Gabrielle substituted, averting Declan’s impure thoughts. “When your soulmate comes along, Declan, I would like to see how much resistance you offer.”

  “My soulmate isn’t an Unborn who is supposedly also an elder, who is probably teaming up with a rogue elder who the elders in charge locked away!”

  Jax crossed the room and just as his fingertips brushed the material of his brother’s suit jacket, Gabrielle wiggled her way between them, giving him no choice but to back off.

  Jax snarled.

  Declan’s eyes dared him.

  “Stop it,” Gabrielle said, and Jax couldn’t ignore the desperation he heard in her voice. “Both of you. I’m exhausted. I’m actually a bit scared, and I don’t need my two rocks beating each other to a pulp. I need help and I can’t do this without both of you. We need each other.”

  Jax backed away, but pointed a finger at Declan as if to say, “later.”

  Gabrielle sighed. “Declan, stop accusing Brea of anything until you get proof,” she said. “And Jax, don’t deny what we all suspect. Let’s clear her name or find out the truth. Either way, we are stuck together with an elder’s target on our backs and yes, with a rogue elder who did save our lives.”

  “What do you suggest?” Declan asked.

  Gabrielle’s lips thinned into a frown. “I don’t know.”

  Declan shook his head and walked to the ship’s window.

  “I think we need to chill,” Jax said. “Let’s clear our heads for the next twenty-three hours. Sleep, relax, I don’t care, but like Magnus said, don’t change anything before we leave.”

  Declan leveled a disapproving stare at him. “That’s your bright plan?” he asked. “What? Is your soul calling Brea for a romp in the sheets and you’re having a hard time resisting? Was her bustier such a turn-on you can’t think about anything else?”

  Jax had noticed her dress pushed her breasts into wonderful peaks his lips and hands had craved to touch, but no, that wasn’t why.

  “Declan,” Gabrielle hissed, punching his shoulder hard. Then she linked her arm in his and began pulling him toward the door. “I think you two need a break. I’ll watch him,” she told Jax. “You figure out if your wife is trustworthy.”

  “With your head and not your libido,” Declan mumbled, pushing through the door.

  “Libido, Declan? Really?” Jax heard Gabrielle say.

  “I was being a gentleman...” That was the last that Jax heard from either of them before the door closed and he stood by himself on the Titanic ready to hurl.

  Suck it up.

  This was no time to be sick. He needed evidence to prove his wife’s innocence.

  BREA STAYED WITH MAGNUS for less than an hour before she walked alone to the upper deck. Standing beside the water was the best possible place to avoid Jax and breathe in clean air to clear her head. But it didn’t help.

  She wished she could enjoy the magnificence of this rip. Walking through the stunning ship, beside Magnus, felt like walking through a ritzy high-class hotel decorated in Renaissance and Victorian themes. She’d wanted to revel in the ornate carvings and amazing construction, but her head swam, instead, with unanswered
questions.

  Now, standing on the upper deck, she watched people walk by and thought how their period outfits would have normally triggered her interest. Instead, she stared across the water, thinking about how best to stay alive and whether she wanted to even try.

  Their situation weighed heavily on her. She felt responsible for bringing down this confusion on Jax and his family. And at the same time, she blamed Magnus. He should have stayed in that cell instead of saving her...if you could call what he’d done saving her. An eternity as an infant with no memory sounded pretty perfect right out about now.

  A happy couple passed, and Brea closed her eyes at the woman’s joyful laughter.

  Regret began to settle in about her first days at the Winters’ estate. Maybe she’d viewed everything wrong from the beginning...maybe she’d viewed Jax incorrectly. Their situation was beyond complicated, but was that because of her? All her actions had been made out of fear. She should have had more faith in him...maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference. The elders wanted her captured and never born. Surely even if she’d bonded and become the perfect Gatekeeper’s wife, they would have intercepted.

  She shook her head. No more regrets. No more looking backward.

  She needed to move forward. Was she the destroyer of Lexcon, like the elders claimed, or the savior Magnus declared?

  Brea rubbed her temples as the lingering headache increased.

  She needed sleep, but couldn’t possibly. She needed food, but would never be able to chew. She needed a shot of hard liquor. But more than anything, she needed direction. She needed to know her future and which path was hers to lead.

  Brea stepped away from the railing, pulling herself away from the confusing equation in her head and an idea popped into her head.

  The future was her answer.

  Why hadn’t she thought of this earlier?

  Magnus had talked about his time spent in the future. He was an elder and, supposedly so was she. Why couldn’t she go into the future, too?

  Brea started walking, her destination not yet known, her head still spinning with questions.

  Should she ask Magnus for permission? She wasn’t even sure she trusted him. What about the trio? Jax?

  The same answer pounded strongly in her head for all questions: no.

  When had she needed permission from any of these people?

  Brea slipped into an empty room. Her thoughts so far away she didn’t notice the interior. More pressing matters demanded her concentration.

  Where exactly in the future did she want to go? What part would help her to decide what to do? What year? What time? What location?

  Did it matter if she got the location or time wrong? She could do it again and again until she knew the answers she sought.

  Brea closed her eyes and dug into her deepest core, remembering the instructions from both Magnus and Gabrielle. When she opened her eyes, a vortex stood waiting for her.

  She’d done it.

  She almost jumped for joy. She just hoped she was walking into the right rip...and when she got there, she prayed she could get back to the Titanic in the right time in order to get the rest of the gang out. She had less than twenty hours.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  JAX COULDN’T BELIEVE his eyes. Brea was about to rip alone.

  He moved across the room in rip-time speed, reaching and grabbing onto her hand as her body entered the rip. He felt her objective pull, but there was no way in hell he would her go.

  What the hell was she thinking?

  For a moment Declan’s words, calling his wife a traitor, echoed in his head.

  On the other side of the rip, Jax thanked the gods for solid ground.

  He pulled back suddenly as he saw himself standing across the room. It was a copy of Jax...but older. Maybe ten or plus years older than he was currently. Jax noticed the future him had trimmed, well-kept hair with a few streaks of silver. Probably from the stress of being Brea’s husband, he thought.

  Was this the future? Had she managed that?

  Jax glanced at his side, where his current Brea stood, mouth gaping, eyes wide, looking as shocked as Jax felt.

  Jax’s eyes fell back on the man before them, who, in addition to his graying hair, had a few pounds on him as well. Future Jax obviously hadn’t hit the gym as frequently.

  Next to his copy stood Brea...future Brea. She was as beautiful as the Brea he knew now, except she wore a big, beautiful smile that lacked anger or resentment, and was sprinkled with a dash of amusement.

  “See, I told you,” she said. “We’re adorable.”

  Future Jax chuckled. “Did you see your face? Complete shock, you succeeded.”

  The future two looked at each other.

  “I didn’t think I would succeed,” she said.

  “You didn’t have enough faith in yourself.” He sounded like a bucket full of sap.

  “I should have had more faith in us.”

  They stepped closer to one another, forgetting they weren’t alone. As if this scenario weren’t awkward enough already.

  Before their lips connected, Jax cleared his throat. “I hate to interrupt you two...” Really they had no idea how much he didn’t want to interrupt what looked like honest affection, but they needed answers and there was no time to waste.

  “What year are we in?”

  They both turned and grinned.

  Hilarious.

  Straightening, they put distance between themselves. Future Jax said, “Right.”

  “I forgot how uptight you used to be,” future Brea whispered to the future Jax. “This is bizarre.” Her smile indicated she enjoyed the meeting. More so than the worried look on present Brea.

  His wife watched the future them, gnawing away on the inside of her mouth and her hands fisted so tight, her knuckles had turned white. She hadn’t even made time to scold him for following along.

  Jax touched her hand to try to relieve some of her anxiety and repeated, “What year are we in?”

  “Don’t worry about the year,” future him said. Jax wasn’t really a fan of this bossy version of himself. “You have other, more serious, matters we need to focus on.”

  Jax inhaled an irritated breath. If only he knew...what...they probably know everything.

  What were they even doing here?

  “You two are happy.” Brea’s quiet voice was barely recognizable. “I can feel it. You two love each other.” She pulled her hand away from Jax’s touch.

  Future Brea sent her a sympathetic smile before closing in the distance between them and wrapping her arms around herself in a strong embrace.

  When his future self looked at him with the intention of doing the same thing, Jax gave a curt head shake. “Not happening.” Future Jax wasn’t only sappy, he was soft, too.

  Jax could hear future Brea whispering, but couldn’t make out her words. When she pulled away, his soulmate glanced up at him, but her face was unreadable.

  “Will you excuse us?” Jax said, taking Brea’s hand again. He didn’t wait for a reply and pulled her aside.

  He watched her look around the room and her face dropped. “Where are we?”

  Jax couldn’t help but smile. He’d known where they were the moment they’d stepped out of the vortex. If the cement walls and floors weren’t a dead giveaway, the metal bars and locks were. “At the Winters estate,” he answered.

  Brea frowned. “Where in the estate?” Her eyes were hard as steel when she looked back at him. “Are those metal bars? Is this a dungeon? You actually have a dungeon in the estate?”

  Jax shrugged. “In a way, you could think of it as a dungeon. But, it’s more like a temporary jail.”

  “For what? Disrespectful Seconds who need a lesson on how to behave?”

  “You know that’s not true. You are the most disrespectful Second I’ve ever come across and you didn’t land yourself here.”

  The insult didn’t charge her like he thought it might.

  “You know, they know
what we’re talking about even if they can’t hear us, right? They are our future selves, you barbaric fool. Pulling me aside only wastes all our time.”

  He felt a moment of stupidity. He’d forgotten, again, that the two people watching them across the room...were them.

  “What’s wasting our time, is you thinking you can time rip...alone. What on earth were you thinking going into the future? Without telling anyone.”

  Brea’s arms crossed over her chest. “I don’t need your permission.”

  “Maybe a warning.”

  “Maybe next time.”

  “Oh, there won’t be a next time.” Jax’s matter-of-fact tone was clear. “You can’t go ripping whenever and wherever you want.”

  “Actually, I can. In case you haven’t noticed I can pretty much rip wherever the hell I feel like.”

  “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

  She stepped toward him. “You know, at this point, I like future Jax more than you.”

  “Future Jax is a sappy, soft sissy.”

  “Well, you need to trim your hair,” his doppelganger called over to him.

  Jax’s reply was less humorous. “You have wrinkles.” Future Jax should be grateful he didn’t bring up his overweight physique.

  “They’re laugh lines,” he replied. “This firecracker makes life worth living.”

  Sap bucket.

  “Mind your own,” Jax snarled.

  Brea elbowed him. “Jax,” she scolded.

  “Firecracker,” future Jax said. For some reason, Jax didn’t like future Jax talking about Brea like that.

  Brea must have sensed the beginnings of a fight because she stepped in front of him, blocking the path.

  “I came here to ask them questions. To know the right direction for my future.”

  “You can’t ask them questions about the past. You can’t know. It’s not the way things work.”

  “Screw the way things work.” Her voice rose almost to a scream. She snapped her mouth shut and he saw how truly tired she was. It was a bad combination probably the one that led her here. This wasn’t the solution, but Jax lowered his tone in an attempt to reason with her.